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WO2015170142A1 - Équipement électronique portatif et procédé de commande d'équipement électronique portatif - Google Patents

Équipement électronique portatif et procédé de commande d'équipement électronique portatif Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2015170142A1
WO2015170142A1 PCT/IB2014/061284 IB2014061284W WO2015170142A1 WO 2015170142 A1 WO2015170142 A1 WO 2015170142A1 IB 2014061284 W IB2014061284 W IB 2014061284W WO 2015170142 A1 WO2015170142 A1 WO 2015170142A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
portable electronic
electronic equipment
map data
user
processing device
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Ceased
Application number
PCT/IB2014/061284
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Ola Thorn
Par-Anders Aronsson
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Sony Corp
Original Assignee
Sony Corp
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Sony Corp filed Critical Sony Corp
Priority to US14/442,591 priority Critical patent/US10216267B2/en
Priority to EP14730207.9A priority patent/EP3140716B1/fr
Priority to CN201480078694.9A priority patent/CN106415442A/zh
Priority to PCT/IB2014/061284 priority patent/WO2015170142A1/fr
Publication of WO2015170142A1 publication Critical patent/WO2015170142A1/fr
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Ceased legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
    • G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer
    • G06F3/011—Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality
    • G06F3/013—Eye tracking input arrangements
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
    • G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer
    • G06F3/048—Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
    • G06F3/0484—Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI] for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
    • G06F3/04842—Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
    • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
    • G06T7/00—Image analysis
    • G06T7/70—Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras
    • G06T7/73—Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras using feature-based methods
    • G06T7/74—Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras using feature-based methods involving reference images or patches
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
    • G06V—IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING
    • G06V40/00—Recognition of biometric, human-related or animal-related patterns in image or video data
    • G06V40/10—Human or animal bodies, e.g. vehicle occupants or pedestrians; Body parts, e.g. hands
    • G06V40/18—Eye characteristics, e.g. of the iris
    • G06V40/19—Sensors therefor
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N23/00—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
    • H04N23/60—Control of cameras or camera modules
    • H04N23/61—Control of cameras or camera modules based on recognised objects
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N23/00—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
    • H04N23/60—Control of cameras or camera modules
    • H04N23/61—Control of cameras or camera modules based on recognised objects
    • H04N23/611—Control of cameras or camera modules based on recognised objects where the recognised objects include parts of the human body
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N23/00—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
    • H04N23/60—Control of cameras or camera modules
    • H04N23/62—Control of parameters via user interfaces
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N23/00—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
    • H04N23/60—Control of cameras or camera modules
    • H04N23/63—Control of cameras or camera modules by using electronic viewfinders
    • H04N23/631—Graphical user interfaces [GUI] specially adapted for controlling image capture or setting capture parameters
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
    • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
    • G06T2207/00—Indexing scheme for image analysis or image enhancement
    • G06T2207/30—Subject of image; Context of image processing
    • G06T2207/30196—Human being; Person
    • G06T2207/30201—Face
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
    • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
    • G06T2207/00—Indexing scheme for image analysis or image enhancement
    • G06T2207/30—Subject of image; Context of image processing
    • G06T2207/30241—Trajectory
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N23/00—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
    • H04N23/60—Control of cameras or camera modules
    • H04N23/63—Control of cameras or camera modules by using electronic viewfinders
    • H04N23/633—Control of cameras or camera modules by using electronic viewfinders for displaying additional information relating to control or operation of the camera
    • H04N23/635—Region indicators; Field of view indicators

Definitions

  • Embodiments of the invention relate to a portable electronic equipment and to a method of controlling a portable electronic equipment.
  • Embodiments of the invention relate in particular to portable electronic equipments which comprise a gaze tracking device operable to track an eye gaze direction of a user of the portable electronic equipment and methods of operating such portable electronic equipments.
  • Gaze based control continues to evidence increased popularity for a wide variety of electronic devices.
  • dedicated gaze tracking device may be operable to determine the eye gaze direction with a high accuracy.
  • gaze tracking may be less accurate.
  • highly accurate, dedicated gaze tracking devices may not be attractive for portable electronic devices due to the costs and installation space requirements associated with such devices.
  • the spatial resolution of gaze tracking which can be attained with current low-cost solutions for gaze tracking in portable electronic devices may be prone to an erroneous identification of the object the user actually is interested in.
  • a portable electronic equipment and a method of controlling a portable electronic equipment are provided.
  • the portable electronic equipment comprises a gaze tracking device.
  • Data captured by the gaze tracking device are processed and combined with saliency map data for a field of view of a user.
  • the point of interest(s) at which the user is gazing may be determined more reliably, even when the gaze tracking device has a low resolution.
  • the gaze tracking device may comprise a video camera which is arranged to face the user when the portable electronic equipment is in use.
  • a video camera is the low-resolution video camera of a portable telephone.
  • the portable electronic equipment may comprise an image capturing device.
  • the image capturing device and the video camera may be arranged so as to capture image data from disjoint solid angle sectors.
  • Settings of the image capturing device may be controlled based on the point(s) of interest determined by combining the saliency map data and the data captured by the gaze tracking device.
  • a portable electronic equipment comprises a gaze tracking device configured to track an eye gaze direction of a user in a time interval.
  • the portable electronic equipment comprises a processing device which is coupled to the gaze tracking device.
  • the processing device is configured to generate heat map data for the eye gaze direction.
  • the processing device is configured to generate saliency map data for a field of view of the user.
  • the processing device is configured to identify at least one point of interest in the field of view based on both the heat map data and the saliency map data.
  • the heat map data may provide spatially resolved information on the fraction of the time interval for which the gaze point has been directed to a point or region, e.g. on a display of the portable electronic equipment.
  • the saliency map data does not need to be generated for the full field of view of the user, but may be generated for a specific portion of the field of view. For illustration, when the portable electronic equipment has a display positioned in the field of view of the user, the saliency map may be computed for the image which is being output on the display.
  • the saliency map data may define the saliency of image regions in a spatially depending manner.
  • the processing device may be configured to compute the saliency map by analyzing one or several of color, orientation, presence of edges, or other criteria which are applied to determine a variation of saliency as a function of location.
  • the processing device may be configured to determine the saliency map from known positions of graphical elements in the field of view of the user, e.g. from known positions of graphical user interface elements, augmented reality elements, or game graphics which are displayed on a display of the portable electronic equipment.
  • the portable electronic equipment may comprise an image capturing device configured to capture at least one image of the field of view of the user.
  • the image capturing device may be a main camera having an aperture arranged on a side of a housing of the portable electronic equipment which is opposite to the user.
  • the image capturing device may have an aperture arranged on a side of a housing of the portable electronic equipment which is opposite to a side on which a display is arranged.
  • the processing device may be configured to process the at least one image of the field of view to generate the saliency map data.
  • the processing device may be configured to control the image capturing device based on the identified at least one point of interest. This allows a camera or video camera application of the portable electronic equipment to be controlled by gaze direction.
  • the processing device may be configured to set a focal point of the image capturing device based on the identified at least one point of interest.
  • the processing device may be configured to control at least one optical component of the image capturing device to set a focal distance based on the identified at least one point of interest.
  • the processing device may be configured to set parameters of the image capturing device which are selected from a group consisting of a focal distance, an integration time of an image sensor of the image capturing device, and an ISO sensitivity.
  • the gaze tracking device may comprise an image sensor which has a lower resolution than the image capturing device.
  • the gaze tracking device may be or may comprise a video camera which is arranged on the portable electronic equipment so as to face the user when the portable electronic equipment is in use.
  • the image sensor of the gaze tracking device and the image capturing device may face in disjoint solid angle sectors.
  • the image sensor of the gaze tracking device and the image capturing device may face in opposite directions.
  • the portable electronic equipment may comprise an optical output device configured to output the at least one image captured by the image capturing device.
  • the processing device may be configured to generate the heat map data for a gaze point on the display. This allows the user to select a real world object by gazing on the at least one image displayed on the optical output device.
  • the optical output device may be a display.
  • the processing device may be configured to control the optical output device to output graphical elements in the field of view of the user, and to generate the saliency map based data on coordinates at which the graphical elements are output by the optical output device.
  • the processing device may be configured to determine, based on the heat map data and the saliency map data, a graphical element of the graphical elements which is the at least one point of interest.
  • the processing device may be configured to control at least one application executed by the portable electronic equipment in response to the graphical element which is the at least one point of interest.
  • the graphical elements may be augmented reality elements. Alternatively or additionally, the graphical elements may be user interface elements. Alternatively or additionally, the graphical elements may be game graphics.
  • the processing device may be configured to process an output of the gaze tracking device to determine a gaze trajectory and to generate the heat map data from the gaze trajectory.
  • the processing device may be configured to compute a convolution of the gaze trajectory and a non-constant function to generate the heat map data.
  • the non-constant function may be a two-dimensional Gauss function or another two-dimension function which has a width, in the spatial domain, which corresponds to the uncertainty in gaze direction determination by the gaze tracking device.
  • the processing device may be configured to identify overlaps between the heat map defined by the heat map data and the saliency map defined by the saliency map data.
  • the processing device may be configured to register the heat map data and the saliency map data against each other.
  • the processing device may be configured to execute one or several of a k-nearest neighbor technique, a logistic regression technique, a naive Bayes technique or another technique to register the heat map data and the saliency map data against each other.
  • the processing device may be configured to identify a most probable gaze point by combining the heat map data and the saliency map data, and/or to prioritize several points of interest by combining the heat map data and the saliency map data.
  • the portable electronic equipment may be a handheld communication terminal.
  • the portable electronic equipment may comprise a wireless interface configured for communication with a cellular communication network.
  • the portable electronic equipment may be a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant, or a handheld computer.
  • the portable electronic equipment may be a head-mounted device.
  • the portable electronic equipment may be a head-mounted display.
  • a system which comprises the portable electronic equipment according to an embodiment and a cellular communication network, with the portable electronic equipment being connected to at least one base station of the cellular communication network.
  • a method of controlling a portable electronic equipment comprises monitoring an eye gaze direction of a user in a time interval.
  • Heat map data are generated for the eye gaze direction.
  • Saliency map data are generated for a field of view of the user. At least one point of interest is identified in the field of view based on both the heat map data and the saliency map data.
  • the portable electronic equipment is controlled in dependence on the identified at least one point of interest.
  • the portable electronic equipment may comprise an image capturing device. Settings of the image capturing device may be controlled based on the identified at least one point of interest.
  • the method may be automatically performed by a portable electronic equipment according to an embodiment.
  • Portable electronic equipments and methods of controlling portable electronic equipments may be used for controlling a camera or video camera application executed by a communication terminal or a head-mounted device, without being limited thereto.
  • FIG. 1 is a front view of a portable electronic equipment according to an embodiment.
  • FIG. 2 is a rear view of the portable electronic equipment of FIG. 1.
  • FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of the portable electronic equipment of FIGS. 1 and 2.
  • FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a method according to an embodiment.
  • FIG. 5 is a view illustrating operation of a portable electronic equipment according to an embodiment.
  • FIG. 6 illustrates a heat map determined by the portable electronic device.
  • FIG. 7 illustrates a saliency map determined by the portable electronic device.
  • FIG. 8 illustrates an eye gaze directory determined by the portable electronic device, from which the heat map is computed.
  • FIG. 9 is a schematic side view of a portable electronic equipment according to another embodiment.
  • FIG. 10 is a view illustrating a field of view of a user of the portable electronic equipment when graphical elements are generated and output.
  • FIG. 11 is a view illustrating a field of view of a user of the portable electronic equipment when graphical elements are generated and output.
  • FIG. 12 is a functional block diagram representation of a processing device of a portable electronic equipment according to an embodiment.
  • the portable electronic equipment comprises a gaze tracking device to track an eye gaze of a user of the portable electronic equipment.
  • the gaze tracking device may be a video camera comprising an image sensor.
  • the gaze tracking device may alternatively or additionally comprise a sensor which is sensitive in the infrared spectral range to detect the eye gaze direction using infrared probe beams.
  • the gaze tracking device may capture several time-sequential image frames in a time interval, which represent a movement of at least one eye of the user.
  • the portable electronic equipment may be configured to determine an eye gaze direction by determining a gaze point on a display of the portable electronic equipment, for example.
  • the portable electronic equipment is configured to combine the data captured by the gaze tracking device with saliency map data to determine a point of interest for the user.
  • the portable electronic equipment may compute the saliency map data by analyzing an image captured by an image capturing device of the portable electronic equipment and/or from known positions of graphical elements which are generated by the processing device or another computer.
  • the portable electronic equipment is configured to use the data captured by the gaze tracking device and the saliency map data in combination to determine which regions of an image shown on a display of the portable electronic equipment may be points of interest for the user, for example.
  • the portable electronic equipment may be configured to synchronize the heat map data and the saliency map data in the spatial domain to identify overlaps between the heat map data and the saliency map data.
  • the portable electronic equipment may be configured to identify a most probable gaze point based on both the heat map data and the saliency map data, and/or to prioritize several points of interest based on both the heat map data and the saliency map data.
  • the portable electronic equipments and methods of embodiments allow the risk of incorrect identification of the most likely gaze point to be mitigated, even when the gaze tracking device has a low resolution as may be the case for a gaze tracking device which uses the video camera pointing towards the user to detect the gaze direction.
  • FIG. 1 is a front view of a portable electronic equipment 1
  • FIG. 2 is a rear view of the portable electronic equipment 1
  • FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram representation of the portable electronic equipment 1.
  • the portable electronic equipment 1 comprises a gaze tracking device 2 which is configured as a video camera facing the user, a main camera 3 and a processing device 4 coupled to the gaze tracking device 2 and the main camera 3.
  • the processing device 4 may be one processor or may include plural processors, such as a main processor 15 and a graphics processing unit 16.
  • the processing device 4 may have other configurations and may be formed by one or several integrated circuits such as microprocessors, microcontrollers, processors, controllers, or application specific integrated circuits.
  • the processing device 4 may perform processing and control operations.
  • the processing device 4 may be configured to process several images captured by an image sensor of the gaze tracking device 2 in a time interval.
  • the processing device 4 may compute heat map data from the several images.
  • the processing device 4 may compute the heat map data such that the heat map data provide, for each one of a plurality of gaze points, information on the fraction of time within the time interval for which the user has been gazing towards this gaze point of towards an area around this gaze point.
  • the processing device 4 may be configured to determine the heat map data from the movement of one eye of the user or from the movement of both eyes of the user in the time interval.
  • the processing device 4 may also compute saliency map data for a field of view of the user.
  • the saliency map data may be computed for an image of the field of view, which may be captured by the main camera 3.
  • the main camera 3 and the gaze tracking device 2 may point in opposite directions such that the main camera 3 can capture a field of view which overlaps or coincides with the field of view of the user and that the gaze tracking device 2 can monitor the eye movement of at least one eye of the user.
  • the processing device 4 may control a display 5 of the portable electronic equipment 1 to display the image for which the saliency map is computed to the user.
  • the processing device 4 may analyze the image captured by the main camera 3 to determine spatial variations in salience.
  • the saliency map data may be determined from spatial changes in object orientation, object edge orientation, color, texture, or similar.
  • the saliency map data may be determined by the processing device 4 based on any one or any combination of multi-scale contrast, center-surround histogram, color saliency detection, depth of field classification, spectral residual approach, global contrast based techniques, context-aware saliency map computation or other techniques.
  • the heat map data is indicative for the fraction of time the user spent gazing at various regions in a field of view, e.g. various regions on the display 5.
  • the saliency map data provides information on where features which are expected to attract the user's attention are located, as a function of position in the field of view.
  • the processing device 4 can identify the most likely gaze direction or gaze point.
  • the processing device 4 may assign probabilities to each one of several regions in the field of view which are candidate points of interest.
  • the processing device 4 may prioritize candidate points of interest according to the assigned probabilities.
  • the processing device 4 may identify the n most likely points of interest at which the user has gazed, with n being an integer greater than one, by taking into account both the heat map data and the saliency map data.
  • the processing device 4 may register the saliency map data and the heat map data against each other, so as to have unique correspondence between pixels of the saliency map data and pixels of the heat map data in the overlap region of the heat map and the saliency map.
  • the processing device 4 may use k-nearest neighbor, regression techniques such as logistic regression, naive Bayes techniques or other techniques to combine the saliency map data and the heat map data.
  • the processing device 4 may use information on the point(s) of interest for an application executed by the portable electronic equipment 1. For illustration, an application may be started which is selected based on the identified point(s) of interest which have been established based on the heat map data and the saliency map data. Additionally or alternatively, settings of at least one application executed on the portable electronic equipment 1 may be controlled based on the identified point(s) of interest which have been established based on the heat map data and the saliency map data.
  • the portable electronic equipment 1 may be configured for a gaze-based control of a camera function or video camera function.
  • the image capturing device 3 of the portable electronic equipment 1 may include various components of a digital camera.
  • the image capturing device 3 may comprise an optoelectronic element, e.g. a CCD sensor or CMOS sensor 14 which performs image sampling, to convert an optical image into image data.
  • the image capturing device 3 may comprise a focusing optics 13.
  • the focusing optics 13 may be adjustable.
  • the image capturing device 3 may include additional components, such as a flashing unit, an illumination sensor, or similar.
  • the processing device 4 may control the image capturing device 3 to capture one image frame or a sequence of image frames which form a video.
  • the processing device 4 may adjust settings of the image capturing device 3 based on the identified points of interest which were established by combining the heat map data and the saliency map data.
  • the processing device 4 may set a focal length of the image capturing device 3 and/or an integration time of the sensor 14 and/or an ISO sensitivity setting based on the identified most likely gaze point of the user.
  • the portable electronic equipment 1 may comprise a non-volatile memory 6 or other storage device in which settings are stored for different parameters of the gaze point of the user. For illustration, once the most probable gaze point has been identified based on the heat map data and the saliency map data, the processing device 4 may control a range finder 17 to determine a distance of the object the user is gazing at. The processing device 4 may retrieve suitable settings for controlling the image capturing device 3, e.g. a focal length and/or integration time of the sensor 14, from data stored in the non-volatile memory 6.
  • the portable electronic equipment 1 may be operative as a portable communication device, e.g. a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant, or similar.
  • the portable electronic equipment 1 may include components for voice communication, which may include a microphone 21, a speaker 22, and the wireless communication interface 7 for communication with a wireless communication network.
  • the portable electronic equipment 1 may have a manually operable user interface.
  • the user interface may include function and control keys provided on a housing 10 of the portable electronic device, and/or a touch- or proximity-sensitive input section 18 of the display 5.
  • the processing device 4 may be configured to execute tasks based on the identified gaze direction of the user.
  • the tasks may be communication related tasks associated with a communication over a wireless communication interface 7.
  • the processing device 4 may perform a navigation task in a contact list based on the identified points of interest.
  • the processing device 4 may start a call and/or may adjust a volume and/or may terminate a call over the wireless communication interface 7 as a function of the identified point(s) of interest.
  • a gaze-based control of call functions can thereby be implemented.
  • the various components of the portable electronic equipment 1 may be integrated in a housing 10.
  • the housing 10 may be dimensioned to allow the portable electronic equipment 1 to be a hand-held device.
  • FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a method 30 according to an embodiment. The method 30 may be performed by the portable electronic equipment 1.
  • gaze tracking is performed to track an eye gaze direction of one eye or both eyes of a user.
  • a convergence point of the eye gaze directions of both eyes may be determined.
  • the eye gaze direction may be tracked in a time interval to obtain statistics on preferred gaze directions which the user has been looking at more frequently than other gaze directions.
  • the eye gaze direction may be recorded for a plurality of times in a time interval.
  • the eye gaze direction may be recorded by a gaze tracking device which can fulfill other functions in the portable electronic equipment.
  • the gaze tracking device may be a video camera arranged on the same side of the housing 10 so as to point towards the user in operation of the portable electronic equipment 1, as may be desired for video calls.
  • heat map data are computed from the information collected by the gaze tracking device.
  • the heat map data may define, for several points or several regions, the fraction of time in the time interval for which the user has been gazing at the respective point or region.
  • a convolution between the points on an eye gaze trajectory and a non-constant spread function f(x, y) may be computed to determine the heat map data, where f(x, y) may be a Gaussian curve, a Lorentz function, or another non-constant function which takes into account that the gaze tracking device has a limited resolution.
  • the heat map data may alternatively be computed by computing, for each one of several pixels on the display 5, the fraction of time for which the user has been gazing at the respective pixel when taking into account the probability spreading caused by the resolution of the gaze tracking device, for example.
  • Various other techniques from the field of gaze tracking may be used to compute the heat map data.
  • saliency of features in a field of view of the user may be determined.
  • an image overlapping with the field of view of the user may be captured and analyzed.
  • saliency map data may be computed.
  • the saliency map data may be computed for one image captured by the image capturing device 3 while the gaze tracking device simultaneously monitors the gaze direction of the user.
  • the saliency map data may be computed, for example, by any one or any combination of multi-scale contrast, center-surround histogram, color saliency detection, depth of field classification, spectral residual approach, global contrast based techniques, context-aware saliency map computation or other techniques.
  • the heat map data and the saliency map data are combined.
  • One or several points of interest may be identified which correspond to the one most likely or the several most likely points and directions for the user's gaze.
  • the heat map data and the saliency map data may be registered against each other, so as to synchronize them in the spatial domain.
  • the heat map data and the saliency map data may be combined in any one of a variety of ways. For illustration, pixel-wise nearest neighbor techniques, regression analysis, naive Bayes or other techniques may be used to determine the most likely gaze direction.
  • At 36 at least one function of the portable electronic equipment may be controlled based on the identified most probable gaze point or the n most probable gaze points, where n is an integer. Parameters of the image capturing device 3 may be automatically set based on the most probable gaze point. Alternatively or additionally, the user may be allowed to select one of the n most probable gaze points. The selection may be made over an input device 18 of the portable electronic equipment.
  • FIG. 5 shows the portable electronic equipment 1 according to an embodiment when a camera function or video camera function is activated.
  • An image captured by the image capturing device 3 may be displayed on the display 5.
  • the gaze tracking device 2 may monitor the user's eye gaze direction when the user's gaze is directed onto the display 5 and/or when the user's gaze is directed onto the real-world scene 40 which is also shown in the display 5.
  • the saliency map data may indicate the regions representing objects 41-43, which are clearly distinguished from their surrounding.
  • the reliability in determining the object, e.g. object 41, which is the most probable gaze point of the user may be improved.
  • the processing device 4 may control the image capturing device 3 to take an image which is to be stored and/or processed further in the portable electronic equipment 1 and/or which is to be transmitted over a wireless communication interface of the portable electronic equipment 1.
  • FIG. 6 shows an exemplary heat map 50.
  • the heat map 50 may comprise a plurality of pixels, and the heat map data may comprise the pixel values of the plurality of pixels of the heat map 50.
  • the number of pixels in the heat map 50 may be smaller than the number of pixels of an image captured by the image capturing device 3, due to the smaller resolution of the gaze tracking device 2, for example.
  • the heat map data provide information on regions 51-54 at which the user has been gazing.
  • the fraction of time for which the user has been gazing in the respective regions is indicated by the spacing between the hatched lines.
  • the fraction of time for which the user has been gazing into areas 51, 52 which surround the objects 41, 42 and correspond to object 43, respectively, is less than the fraction of time the user has been gazing at areas 53, 54 which correspond to objects 41, 42.
  • the identification of the point(s) of interest that is based on the heat map data alone may have limitations, in particular when the spatial resolution of the gaze tracking device is small.
  • the portable electronic equipment according to embodiments addresses these shortcomings by combining the heat map data with the saliency map data.
  • FIG. 7 shows an exemplary saliency map 60.
  • the saliency map 60 may comprise a plurality of pixels, and the saliency map data may comprise the pixel values of the plurality of pixels of the saliency map 60.
  • the number of pixels of the saliency map 60 may be greater than the number of pixels of the heat map 50.
  • the saliency map 60 may have a higher spatial resolution than the heat map 50.
  • the saliency map data may provide information on regions 61-64 in which objects which are likely to draw the user's attention are located.
  • the regions 61-64 may be identified by taking into account one or several of contrast, color, depth of field, and/or edge orientation of features shown in an image captured by the image capturing device 3.
  • the saliency map data and the information on the regions 61-64 may be determined based on any one or any combination of multi-scale contrast, center-surround histogram, color saliency detection, depth of field classification, spectral residual approach, global contrast based techniques, context-aware saliency map computation or other techniques.
  • the saliency i.e. the pixel values of the saliency map 60
  • the region 64 is the region having the highest pixel values in the saliency map.
  • the heat map data By combining the heat map data with the saliency map data, it becomes possible to more reliably determine the region which corresponds to the most probable point of interest.
  • the spatial resolution of determining the eye gaze direction may optionally also be improved.
  • the saliency map data By using the saliency map data, it becomes possible to identify a region 64 to be the most probable point of interest, even when that region 64 has a size which is smaller than the resolution of the gaze tracking device.
  • the heat map data for the gaze direction may be determined in various ways.
  • the gaze tracking device may monitor a trajectory of the gaze direction.
  • FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary gaze trajectory 70.
  • the gaze trajectory 70 may be determined by the gaze tracking device 2.
  • Statistics on the likelihood of the gaze direction being directed onto a certain region on the display 5 may be obtained from the gaze trajectory.
  • the processing device may identify regions 71-73 in which the heat map data have values greater than in the surrounding regions.
  • the portable electronic equipment according to embodiments may be a hand-held device. Other implementations may be used, as will be explained with reference to FIG. 9.
  • the portable electronic equipment according to an embodiment may be a head-mounted device, such as a head-mounted display, or another body mounted device.
  • FIG. 9 shows a portable electronic equipment 81 according to another embodiment.
  • the portable electronic equipment 81 is a head-mounted device.
  • the portable electronic equipment 81 comprises a gaze tracking device 2 which may comprise a video camera.
  • the portable electronic equipment 81 may optionally comprise an image capturing device 3.
  • the image capturing device 3 may be used for capturing an image of a field of view of the user.
  • the processing device 4 may analyze the image of the field of view for overlaying augmented reality objects onto a real-world view, for example.
  • the portable electronic equipment 81 may comprise an optical output device 84 configured to display graphical elements on a surface 85.
  • the surface 85 may be configured to allow a user to see a real-word environment through the surface 85.
  • the surface 85 may comprise a display which is controlled by the processing device 4.
  • the processing device 4 may be configured to determine heat map data based on an output of the gaze tracking device 2.
  • the processing device 4 may be configured to determine saliency map data.
  • the saliency map data may be determined by processing an image captured by the image capturing device 3. Alternatively or additionally, and as will be explained in more detail with reference to FIG. 10 and FIG. 11, the saliency map data may also be computed based on knowledge of locations at which graphical elements are output to the user.
  • FIG. 10 is a view 90 of a display 5 of the portable electronic equipment 1 according to an embodiment or of the surface 85 of the portable electronic equipment 81 according to an embodiment, which is located in the field of view of the user.
  • Objects 41-43 of a real-world view may be displayed in the field of view of the user.
  • User interface elements 91, 92 may be generated as computed generated graphics and may be displayed in the field of view of the user.
  • the user interface elements 91, 92 may be generated by the processing device 4, for example.
  • the positions of the user interface elements 91, 92 are known to the processing device 4, even without any image analysis.
  • the processing device 4 may compute the saliency map data based on the knowledge of the positions of the user interface elements 91, 92.
  • the positions may be defined by coordinates 94-96 of the user interface elements 91, 92.
  • the processing device 4 may compute the saliency map data based on the knowledge of the positions of one or several augmented reality elements 93 which are overlaid onto a real-world image.
  • the processing device 4 may compute the saliency map data based on the knowledge of the positions of the augmented reality elements 93.
  • the processing device 4 may activate other functions in response to detecting the probable points of interest of the user based on the combination of the heat map data and saliency map data. For illustration, the processing device 4 may perform call-based control functions in response to detecting that the user gazes at a user interface element 91 associated with call-based control functions.
  • FIG. 11 is a view 100 of a display 5 of the portable electronic equipment 1 according to an embodiment or of the surface 85 of the portable electronic equipment 81 according to an embodiment, which is located in the field of view of the user.
  • graphical elements 101, 102 in the field of view of the user may be computer generated graphical elements, e.g. game graphics.
  • the processing device 4 may compute the saliency map data from the known positions of the graphical elements 101, 102.
  • the positions may each be defined by a pair of coordinates 103, 104 or 105, 106, respectively. No real-world image of the user's field of view must be captured to determine the saliency map.
  • the positions are known to the processing device 4 which generates the game graphics.
  • FIG. 12 is a block diagram representation 110 of a processing device 4 according to an embodiment, which shows functional modules of the processing device.
  • the functional modules may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof.
  • the processing device 4 may have a gaze tracking module 111 for evaluating an output of a gaze tracking device.
  • the gaze tracking module 111 may compute and record the gaze point, e.g. on a display of the portable electronic equipment, for a plurality of times in a time interval.
  • the processing device 4 may have a computation module 112 for computing the heat map data.
  • the computation module 112 may be configured to compute statistics for the data collected by the gaze tracking module 111.
  • the computation module 112 may compute heat map data which define the probability for the user to look in a certain direction or at a certain point, respectively for each one of several gaze directions.
  • the processing device 4 may have an image analysis module 113 for analyzing an image of a field of view of the user.
  • the image analysis module 113 may identify one or several features in the image.
  • the image analysis module 113 may perform an edge detection to detect an orientation of object edges in the image, for example.
  • the processing device 4 may have a computation module 114 for computing saliency map data.
  • the computation module 114 may compute pixel values of a saliency map.
  • the processing device 4 may have a combination module 115 for combining the heat map data and the saliency map data.
  • the combination module 115 may be configured to determine, based on the heat map data and the saliency map data, the most probable gaze point or the most probable gaze points of the user.
  • the combination module 115 may be configured to determine the most probable gaze point with a spatial resolution which is higher than that of the heat map data, by taking advantage of the spatial resolution of the saliency map data.
  • the combination module 115 may be configured to synchronize the heat map data and the saliency map data in the spatial domain and the time domain.
  • the processing device 4 may have a control module 116 which controls execution of a function or which adjusts settings of the portable electronic equipment 1, in dependence on the identified point(s) of interest which are the most probable gaze points of the user.
  • a dedicated sensor may be provided for tracking the eye gaze direction.
  • the dedicated sensor may be an infrared sensor which detects reflections of infrared light to establish the eye gaze direction.
  • the gaze tracking device may, but does not need to be a sensor which is sensitive in the visible spectral range.
  • the portable electronic equipment may be a hand-held device or a head-mounted device, the portable electronic equipment may also have other configurations.
  • the processing device may include plural processors, with one of the processors being a dedicated graphics unit processor which controls the optical output unit and additionally performs steps of methods of embodiments.
  • the processing device may consist of only one processor in other embodiments.
  • portable electronic equipments which may be configured as described herein include, but are not limited to, a mobile phone, a cordless phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a head mounted display, and the like.
  • PDA personal digital assistant

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Abstract

La présente invention concerne un équipement électronique portatif (1) qui comprend un dispositif (2) de suivi du regard conçu pour suivre une direction du regard d'un utilisateur dans un intervalle de temps. L'équipement électronique portatif comprend un dispositif de traitement (4) couplé au dispositif (2) de suivi du regard et conçu pour générer des données de carte de chaleur pour la direction du regard, générer des données de carte de saillance pour un champ de vision de l'utilisateur, et identifier au moins un point d'intérêt dans le champ de vision en fonction à la fois des données de carte de chaleur et des données de carte de saillance.
PCT/IB2014/061284 2014-05-08 2014-05-08 Équipement électronique portatif et procédé de commande d'équipement électronique portatif Ceased WO2015170142A1 (fr)

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US14/442,591 US10216267B2 (en) 2014-05-08 2014-05-08 Portable electronic equipment and method of controlling a portable electronic equipment
EP14730207.9A EP3140716B1 (fr) 2014-05-08 2014-05-08 Équipement électronique portatif et procédé de commande d'équipement électronique portatif
CN201480078694.9A CN106415442A (zh) 2014-05-08 2014-05-08 便携式电子设备和控制便携式电子设备的方法
PCT/IB2014/061284 WO2015170142A1 (fr) 2014-05-08 2014-05-08 Équipement électronique portatif et procédé de commande d'équipement électronique portatif

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US10216267B2 (en) 2019-02-26

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